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Select Committees: by Richard Kelly BRIEFING PAPER Number 7176, 12 March 2020 Select committees: By Richard Kelly election of chairs and members Inside: 1. Committees whose chairs are elected by the whole House 2. Allocation of select committee chairs between the parties 3. Nomination and election of select committee chairs 4. Election results: Chairs 5. Election of members to select committees 6. Summary of timetables, 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019 www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library | [email protected] | @commonslibrary Number 7176, 12 March 2020 2 1. Committees whose chairs are elected by the whole House The chairs of the following select committees are elected by the House Standing Order No in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (14) of Standing Order No 122B to 122A sets term serve as chair throughout the Parliament. At the beginning of the 2019 limits for select Parliament, these are: committee chairs of • the 20 departmental select committees appointed under Standing two full Parliaments Order No 152: or eight years. On 21 January Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; International Trade; 2020, the House agreed to disapply Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; Justice; Standing Order No Defence; Northern Ireland Affairs; 122A for the 2019 Parliament. Education; Science and Technology; In the 2017 Parliament, on 18 Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Scottish Affairs; April 2018, the Foreign Affairs; Transport; House agreed to extend the limit to Health and Social Care; Treasury; 10 years for the Home Affairs; Welsh Affairs; remainder of the 2017 Parliament. Housing, Communities and Local Women and Equalities;1 and Government; Work and Pensions. International Development; • the Environmental Audit Committee; • the Petitions Committee; • the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee;2 • the Committee of Public Accounts; • the Procedure Committee; and • the Committee on Standards. In addition, the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee is elected each Session in accordance with Standing Order No 122D.3 Committee on Exiting the European Union During the 2015 Parliament and at the beginning of the 2017, the House agreed temporary Standing Orders to establish the Committee on Exiting the European Union Committee. The House also agreed that the Committee’s chair should be elected by the whole House.4 Cover page image copyright: UK Parliament 1 On 3 June 2015, the House added the Women and Equalities Committee to this list, with effect until the end of the 2015 Parliament [HC Deb 3 June 2015 cc704-720]. A motion to make this a permanent select committee under Standing Order No 152 was agreed to on 4 July 2017 [HC Deb 4 July 2017 cc1077-1088] 2 formerly Select Committee on Public Administration: it was renamed and its terms of reference were amended on 3 June 2015 [HC Deb 3 June 2015 c720] 3 See section 3 4 On 11 October 2016, the Exiting the European Union Committee was established and added to list of committees whose Chair is elected by the whole House [HC Deb 11 October 2016 cc254-260]. The Committee was appointed until the end of the 2015 Parliament. A motion to re-establish this Committee in the 2017 Parliament, 3 Select committees: election of chairs and members On 16 January 2020, the House agreed to appoint the Committee on Exiting the European Union for twelve months.5 (The Committee was included in the motion to allocate chairs, tabled on 9 January 2020 (see section 2).) On 2 March 2020, the Committee on Exiting the EU was renamed the Committee on the Future Relationship with the EU.6 2. Allocation of select committee chairs between the parties On the day after his election, the Speaker is required to “communicate to the leaders of each party represented in the House the proportion of chairs of select committees to be elected under this order falling to each such party which would reflect the composition of the House”.7 The parties entitled to one or more chairs of select committees subject to election then determine from which party each chair is to come. A motion, tabled in the name of the leaders of those parties, specifies the allocation of the chairs between the parties. The motion allocating chairs to parties does not have to match the proportions which the Speaker communicated to the party leaders. Under Standing Order No 122B (3) and (5), if the motion tabled by the party leaders is debated within a week of the Queen’s Speech, debate is limited to one hour. If two weeks elapse without the party leaders tabling such a motion, any Member can propose an allocation of chairs. On 20 December 2019, the House agreed to extend the one-week period to three weeks and the two-week period to four weeks (to allow for the Christmas Recess).8 At the beginning of the 2019 Parliament, the election of the Speaker took place on 17 December, and the Queen’s Speech on 19 December.9 On 9 January 2020, the leaders of the three parties entitled to chairs tabled a motion to allocate the chairs among the parties.10 The motion was agreed, without debate or division, on 16 January 2020: Select committees appointed under Standing Order No. 152: Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Labour Defence Conservative Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Conservative Education Conservative Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Conservative and to provide for the election of the Chair, was agreed to on 4 July 2017 [HC Deb 4 July 2017 cc1077-1088] 5 HC Deb 16 January 2020 c1266-1267 6 HC Deb 2 March 2020 c712 7 House of Commons, Standing Orders – Public Business, 2019, November 2019, HC 314 2019, Standing Order No 122B (2) 8 HC Deb 20 December 2019 c145 9 HC Deb 17 December 2019 cc2-4; HC Deb 19 December 2019 cc31-33 10 House of Commons, Order of Business, 13 January 2020, Remaining Orders Item 6 Number 7176, 12 March 2020 4 Foreign Affairs Conservative Health and Social Care Conservative Home Affairs Labour Housing, Communities and Local Government Labour International Development Labour International Trade Scottish National Party Justice Conservative Northern Ireland Affairs Conservative Science and Technology Conservative Scottish Affairs Scottish National Party Transport Conservative Treasury Conservative Welsh Affairs Conservative Women and Equalities Conservative Work and Pensions Labour Other specified select committees: Environmental Audit Conservative Exiting the European Union Labour Petitions Labour Procedure Conservative Public Accounts Labour Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Conservative Standards Labour11 The Government indicated that it planned to make Machinery of Government changes after the UK left the EU. In response to a question from Valerie Vaz, the Leader of the House, Jacob Rees-Mogg “absolutely assure[d] the right hon. Lady that any changes that are made will lead to consultation with the Opposition about any changes to Committees”.12 As noted above, the Committee on Exiting the European Union was renamed the Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union. Box 1: Allocation of chairs – 2010, 2015 and 2017 2010: A motion to allocate the chairs of the 19 departmental select committees appointed under Standing Order No 152 and four further committees specified under Standing Order No 122B (1) was agreed on 26 May 2010, the day after the Queen’s Speech.13 2015: A motion to allocate the chairs of the 2014 departmental select committees appointed under Standing Order No 152 and six15 further committees specified under Standing Order No 122B (1) was agreed on 3 June 2015, one week after the Queen’s Speech.16 2017: A motion to allocate the chairs of the 20 departmental select committees appointed under Standing Order No 152 and seven further committees specified under Standing Order No 122(B) (1) was agreed on 4 July 2017, almost two weeks after the Queen’s Speech.17 11 HC Deb 16 January 2020 cc1267-1268 12 HC Deb 9 January 2020 c618 13 HC Deb 26 May cc171-173 14 Including the Women and Equalities Committee, appointed for the duration of the 2015 Parliament 15 The Petitions Committee was established on 24 February 2015 [HC Deb 25 February 2015 cc248-256]; the House ordered that the Chair of the Committee on Standards should be elected by the House on 17 March 2015 [HC Deb 17 March 2015 cc695- 706] 16 HC Deb 3 June 2015 cc720-721 17 HC Deb 4 July 2017 cc1077-1088 5 Select committees: election of chairs and members 3. Nomination and election of select committee chairs The procedure for nominating candidates for chairs is set out in Standing Order No 122B (8). The Speaker used his powers under Standing Order No 122B to shorten the two-week period between the House agreeing the allocation of chairs between the parties and their election. On 16 January 2020, following the agreement of the allocation of chairs, the Deputy Speaker announced that elections would be held on Wednesday 29 January, with nominations closing at 4pm on Monday 27 January. The same timetable would apply for the election of the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee.18 Details of the nomination and election process were set out in the Announcements section of the Order Paper: ELECTION OF SELECT COMMITTEE CHAIRS Nominations Nominations must be received in writing in the Table Office by 4pm on Monday 27 January. Each nomination must consist of a signed statement made by the candidate declaring their willingness to stand, accompanied by the signatures of 15 Members elected to the House as members of the same party as the candidate, or ten per cent of the members of that party, whichever is the lower. Statements may (optionally) be accompanied by signatures of up to five Members elected to the House as members of any party other than that to which the candidate belongs, or members of no party.
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